The present invention relates to cassettes or containers for dispensing pharmaceuticals.
Systems and machines for storing, dispensing, and/or packaging pharmaceuticals (e.g., pills) in an automated fashion are becoming more common. These systems typically include containers filled with different types of pharmaceuticals. The containers are generally open bodies with fingers, brushes, or combs located within the bodies to help properly meter the pharmaceuticals out of the containers. Because different pharmaceuticals have different shapes and sizes, the containers need to be tuned differently to dispense the correct number of pharmaceuticals (e.g., one at a time). As such, a specific container is generally only usable to dispense one type (e.g., composition, brand, dosage, shape, etc.) of pharmaceutical. If a different type of pharmaceutical is stored in the container, the container typically needs to be retuned for the shape and size of the new pharmaceutical.
In order to accommodate new or uncommon types of pharmaceuticals, some pharmaceutical systems include separate tray assemblies. The tray assemblies are manually filled with, for example, 30-50 unique pharmaceuticals that may be manually placed in a prescription order. This process, however, can be labor-intensive and time-consuming. In addition, pharmaceuticals stored within tray assemblies are susceptible to theft, contamination, and error.